On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 20:25:28 +0100, Janet Baraclough..
wrote:

The message
from Mike Mitchell contains these words:

I have been told, and not just by estate
agents, is totally ideal for, say, a first-time buyer, or for a
widower or widow needing or wanting to downsize from the family home.

Isn't a house with garden at £200K, beyond the reach and ambition of of
many average-income "first time buyers"? If it was ideal for them, they
would have snapped it up.

Widowed downsizers are not usually seeking the bottom rung of the
property ladder that appeals to first time buyers. Most downsizers,
people manipulating their assets to their best advantage, learned a bit
about property sales on their way up the ladder. They may later rely on
selling the last-buy to fund nursing-home care, so ONE of their
downsizing stipulations is a property which they are confident will sell
fast. Yours evidently isn't in that category.

And a Happy Christmas to you, too!

MM